Fewer than one in 20 foreign criminals from some countries are being deported - with more than 20,000 offenders living freely in the UK

Fewer than five per cent of foreign criminals from some countries are being deported, with 20,000 still in the UK despite being subject to deportation orders. The Conservatives warned that failures to return foreign criminals to their home countries are allowing offenders to commit serious crimes in the UK. New figures for June 2025 reveal that barely five per cent of criminals from Nigeria and Algeria were deported.The proportion was even lower for offenders from Morocco and Sri Lanka, and just 3.1 per cent for Jamaicans.Labour returned 35,000 people during its first year in office, but only 30 per cent of them were foreign criminals.The figures, released by the Home Office under Freedom of Information laws, show that 773 offenders were awaiting deportation to Nigeria in June 2025.In the preceding year, there were only 37 returns to the country, equivalent to a 4.8 per cent deportation rate.For Jamaica, there were 775 offenders living in the community, with just 24 removed in the previous year, a rate of 3.1 per cent.Bangladeshi criminals faced a return rate of roughly 6 per cent. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Only a tiny fraction of criminals from countries like Jamaica, Nigeria, Somalia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or even India get returned. 'Endless human rights claims and the absurd Labour belief that it is somehow racist to return criminals to Jamaica mean these dangerous men stay in the UK, and some have gone on to commit crimes including rape and murder after they should have been deported for earlier offences.' Criminals from European Union countries were far more likely to be returned.Romania alone saw 990 deportations in the year to June 2025, compared with 1,399 Romanian offenders living in the community while awaiting deportation.The returns figures include people who were deported directly from prison instead of being released into the community.Some foreign criminals in the community are also subject to electronic monitoring.The latest Home Office data shows a total of 21,294 offenders were still living in the UK despite facing deportation in June 2026.This figure has more than tripled over the past decade, from 5,928 in June 2016.The increase was blamed on the impact of Labour's Sentencing Act, which has seen thousands of criminals released early as part of efforts to combat prison overcrowding.The number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation stood at 17,677 at the time of the General Election in 2024.Foreign criminals have gone on to reoffend while subject to deportation orders. Radiet Meles, a former soldier from Eritrea, was expected to be deported after completing his sentence for a horrific sexual assault in 2019 Radiet Meles, a former soldier from Eritrea, was expected to be deported after completing his sentence for a horrific sexual assault in 2019.However, he was allowed to stay in Britain after serving a five-year sentence for the attempted rape of an unconscious woman at a house party in Newport, South Wales.Gift Oladele, from Nigeria, was jailed for 17 years earlier this year for raping and sexually assaulting a young woman in Wrexham.Oladele was on bail for a similar rape allegation in Manchester in November 2024 and had previously been jailed in 2022 for the false imprisonment of a woman.The Home Office tried to deport him after his first sentence, but he won his appeal on human rights grounds.Mr Philp added that the Conservatives would 'not be squeamish about deporting to countries of origin which Labour do not deport to'.'Only the Conservatives have a detailed plan to deport all foreign criminals by leaving the ECHR and banning asylum and modern slavery claims by foreign criminals.'The Home Office said: 'Returns are at their highest level in nearly a decade. Nearly 12,000 foreign criminals, including murderers and rapists, have been returned or deported in the two years since the last election, representing a 41 per cent increase on the two years prior.'